Identifying the Narrative and Genre Characteristics in a Film
Film is undoubtly the reflective illusion of life and its complexities
brought to a facade of psychological reality for its audience.
It is an art form which plays with mans very definition of semiotic
meanings, codes, signs, signifiers, connotations and popular
ideologies to create a mental association with its audience and
transport the spectator through the door way of a cinematic recreation
of the “real world”
This is more commonly known as verisimilitude.
Arguably no genre exploits and infact questions the social norms,
moralities and issues of common social attitudes of its audience to
the extent of ‘Noir’ and its conventional abstract perversity of life.
Noir deals with the primal fears of man without having to revert to
the technique of the ‘Science fiction’ genre, of creating fictional
dangers. Instead it focuses upon the dark side of human nature, and
the complexities of fate to draw upon its audience’s fear of the
unknown.
The foundations of Noir lie in between the early forties and late
fifties.
In its creation Noir produced a stark contrast to previously known
Hollywood genres of the time, through the refusal to present life in a
glossy exaggerated tone of “Happy endings” Noir instead focused upon
its audience an injection of stark reality – fantasised only by the
use of hyperbole and complexity of an erratic representation of fate
‘waywardly embroiling itself around characters’
The world of Noir is dark, conflict fuelled, and instigating of both
complicated enigmas and disruptions.
Above all else it can be said that Noir is a tale of raw human
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... of Kujon in low angle shots – giving the
audience a false impression of his characters overall power dynamic in
the plot, and conflicting themes of Good and Evil.This convention is
also used in ‘Mildred Pierce’but not arguably as effectively so as
Singers encorporation of it into his audience’s confusion.
In conclusion, from the opening sequence alone it is not only clear
Singer utilises nearly all of the aforementioned recognisable
characteristics, narrational techniques, genres and recognisable
signatures of Film Noir,but that he twists these complexly in order
to create layering of meaning and a deconstructionalist plot line for
his audience.
We are given implausible and inconsistent clues and narration
throughout the piece, alongside edgy performances which create a near
religious intensity throughout film.
The noir style is showcased in Sunset Boulevard with its use of visually dark and uncomfortable settings and camera work, as well as its use of the traditional film noir characters. In addition, the overall tone and themes expressed in it tightly correspond to what many film noirs addressed. What made this film unique was its harsh criticism of the film industry itself, which some of Wilder’s peers saw as biting the hand that fed him. There is frequent commentary on the superficial state of Hollywood and its indifference to suffering, which is still a topic avoided by many in the film business today. However, Sunset Blvd. set a precedent for future film noirs, and is an inspiration for those who do not quite believe what they are being shown by Hollywood.
In the classical Western and Noir films, narrative is driven by the action of a male protagonist towards a clearly defined, relatable goal. Any lack of motivation or action on the part of the protagonist problematizes the classical association between masculinity and action. Due to inherent genre expectations, this crisis of action is equivalent to a crisis of masculinity. Because these genres are structured around male action, the crises of action and masculinity impose a crisis of genre. In the absence of traditional narrative elements and character tropes, these films can only identify as members of their genres through saturation with otherwise empty genre symbols. The equivalency between the crises of genre and masculinity frames this symbol saturation as a sort of compensatory masculine posturing.
The Narrative or storyline is much the same as any other film noir movie. It has a ‘hard boiled’ cop (Russell Crowe) who we grow attached to. The narrative of any film must have certain ‘key conventions’ which are apparent for the audience to tell the genre of the film. The narrative can be used to provide an explanation as to why the film contains certain things, or why a character does something.
Before the civil rights movement could begin, a few courageous individuals had to guide the way. Dr. Vernon Johns was one of those individuals. Dr. Vernon Johns was a pastor and civil rights activist in the 1920s. Johns became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1940s. During his time as a pastor, Johns preached many sermons on how African American people were being treated not only in the community but in society. Johns on multiple occasions upset his community through his ideas on social change. Through a sociologist perspective, many sociological concepts were displayed in The Vernon Johns Story. Some of those concepts included: ascribed status, conflict theory, deviant behavior, alienation, and
A League of Their Own (Marshall, 1992) explicitly characterizes an American era when a woman’s place was in the home. Even our modern perspective implicitly follows suit. Although women have gained rights and freedoms since the 1930’s, sexism remains prevalent in America. This film offers an illustration when men went to war and big business men utilized women as temporary replacements in factories, sports, and so on. Here, course concepts, such as gender socialization, gender expressions, role stereotypes, emotion expressions, and language, correspond to the film’s characters and themes.
How does it feel starting over in a completely new place? In the movie “The Karate Kid”, Daniel, the main character, and his mom moved to the California from New Jersey because of his mom’s new job offer. Daniel started going to school in California and met a girl named Ali, whom he started to like. He started going out with her. Daniel was getting beat up by some bullies; one of them was Ali’s ex-boyfriend. They knew karate very well, but Daniel did not. So Daniel decided to learn karate. Daniel and his mom were living in an apartment and one day he discovers that the handyman at his apartment, Mr.Miyagi, knows karate very well. He asked Mr.Miyagi to teach him karate, and Mr.Miyagi became his karate teacher. It was hard for him to make new friends in a new place and he believed that Mr.Miyagi would be the only best friend he ever met.
This essay critically examines Shane Black’s movie ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ in respect to the Film Noir Genre. The Film Noir genre dominated the 1940’s with its distinct style that captured audience at that time (Grant, 1986). This style was also not extremely famous as compared to other action movies such as “Spiderman” or animated movies like ‘Shrek”. This genre was distinct and one of the central themes of the movie was violence (Browne, 1998). This genre also involved scripts where the characters created sometimes didn’t have to get involved in a certain situation but because of being in the “wrong place at the wrong time” they automatically become involved (Grant 1986). An example of this is Harry Lockhart and Gay Perry. Film Noir was displayed in movies by using certain images, typically darker scenes which were sometimes filmed away from society (Browne, 1998). The movie showed images of smoke which featured in the movie at the scene that was filmed in a club. Smoke was generally a symbol of danger. This genre is known for its mood and tone. Basically, the Film Noir genre represented among other things criminal activity and corruption that consumed the cities (Grant, 1986). This was brought about by wars that seemed to have influenced this style of film. Film Noir was represented in Principles where “….the theme is hidden in the style; and Bogus themes are often flaunted that contradict the style” (Grant, 1986:181).It was also not like the movies that were highly sparked with heavy lighting. The Noir genre was associa...
An Analysis of How Narrative and Genre Features Create Meaning and Generate Response in the Opening of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas
The Convention of a Thriller Film It is difficult to state a clear definition of a thriller as they cross over many genres, however the single most characteristic of a thriller is the obvious one, it "thrills" the audience. The plots are scary, the characters are at great risk and the films are constructed in a manner that makes the watcher really want to know what happens next. There is no formula for a thriller, other that that most thrillers follow one of a few common narrative structures. For example, they may use the Todorov theory, where the narrative structure is comprised of three main parts: order and normality, then something happens where disorder occurs and finally equilibrium is restored, usually by a hero. Thrillers can be divided into countless categories, i.e., action thrillers, psychological thrillers, millitary thrillers, spy thrillers, and the list goes on.
Genre Films' Predictability and Formulaicity This essay shall discuss whether 'Genre films are predictable and formulaic', looking at the Western genre, and using the example films of, 'The Searchers' and 'Unforgiven'. Genre is a fundamental means by which we communicate especially in storytelling. If looking at genre in terms of Thomas Shatz, he puts forward the theory of similarity and overlap. He adopts a thematic and ideological approach, which identifies only two genres; the genre of order and the genre of integration. In this case the Western would be categorised into the genre of order.
The Associate is an entertaining movie that brings forth gender disparities in the workplace. Whoopi Goldberg, Laurel Ayers, portrays a financial analyst who has been stuck in a position that does not give her true credit for all of her hard work and talents. The Associate exemplifies the sexism that is occurring in the workplace through satiric wit and a strong story line.
most effective at this, as it totally left me on the edge of my seat
The movie v story, the movie was different from the story (Vis versa) in very many different ways. First of all they threw him in a trunk, but in the story the grabbed him. Second they camped outside not in a cave like the story. Third they drove a car not a buggy like in the story.
Features of Narrative and Genre in First Ten Minutes of Minority Report Minority Report has the definite genre of a futuristic sci-fi. Right from the start of the film there are genre conventions to show the viewer what type of film they are watching. At the beginning, the title sequences are contrasted in dark and light shades of blue and the title sequences move like water. The colour blue is used often in futuristic films because it makes everything look futuristic and digital. And the title sequence moves like water, again highlighting the advanced technology which the film is set in.
Horror films got their start in 1896 with the two-minute short, Le manoir du diable (The Haunted Castle), shown on Christmas Eve, in Paris. But it was not until 1906, with the remake of Notre-Dame de Paris, Esmeralda, did the genre spilt into subgenres. Esmeralda refined the ‘freak shows’ that previous horror films had begun to resemble. Films like these paved the way for people like Brian De Palma, Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King, John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, and his composer, John Williams. There are several key pieces of a horror film, including suspense, mystery, and spoilers, and numerous stereotypes and clichés that have latched on to the growing genre.